e water first into the garden, and
then into the new channel; when suddenly the wheel began to spin about,
and wind the pack-thread on to the reel. He ran to his room, and
undressed faster than he had ever done before, tied the other end of the
thread around his wrist, and, although kept awake much longer than usual
by his excitement, at length fell fast asleep, and dreamed that the
thread had waked him, and drawn him to the window, where he saw the
water-wheel flashing like a fire-wheel, and the water rushing away from
under it in a green flame. When he did wake it was broad day; the coils
of pack-thread were lying on the floor scarcely diminished; the brook
was singing in the garden, and when he went to the window, he saw the
wheel spinning merrily round. He dressed in haste, ran out, and found
that the thread had got entangled amongst the bushes on its way to the
wheel, and had stuck fast; whereupon the wheel had broken it to get
loose, and had been spinning round and round all night for nothing, like
the useless thing it was before.

That afternoon he set poles up for guides, along the top of which the
thread might run, and so keep clear of the bushes. But he fared no
better the next night, for he never waked until the morning, when he
found that the wheel stood stock still, for the thread, having filled
the reel, had slipped off, and so wound itself about the wheel that it
was choked in its many windings. Indeed, the thread was in a wonderful
tangle about the whole machine, and it took him a long time to
unwind--turning the wheel backwards, so as not to break the thread.

In order to remove the cause of this fresh failure, he went to the
turner, whose name was William Burt, and asked him to turn for him a
large reel or spool, with deep ends, and small cylinder between. William
told him he was very busy just then, but he would fix a suitable piece
of wood for him on his old lathe, with which, as he knew him to be a
handy boy, he might turn what he wanted for himself. This was his first
attempt at the use of the turning-lathe; but he had often watched
William at work, and was familiar with the way in which he held his
tool. Hence the result was tolerably satisfactory. Long before he had
reached the depth of which he wished to make the spool, he had learned
to manage his chisel with some nicety. Burt finished it off for him with
just a few touches; and, delighted with his acquisition of the rudiments
of a new trade,